It is August and we are remembering the A-bomb dropped on Japan that ended WW2…….
I have written on my opinion that the bombs were not truly necessary and have received other opinions as well.
Most people are not aware of the fact that there were other plans on how to deal with Japan to bring the war to a close.
The Russians had a plan….and MacArthur had a plan.
In 1966, two years after the death of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the U.S. Army published the Reports of General MacArthur. Compiled by MacArthur’s staff, headed by Maj. Gen. Charles Willoughby and with the assistance of Prof. Gordon W. Prange, who was on leave from the University of Maryland, the Reports detailed the operations of forces under MacArthur’s command in the southwest Pacific, and included a chapter on “Operation Downfall,” the planned invasion of Japan.
In announcing their publication, Gen. Harold K. Johnson, then Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, described them as “an illuminating record of momentous events influenced in large measure by a distinguished American soldier.”
Source: How MacArthur Was Going to Invade Japan | RealClearHistory
Damn! History is interesting!
That is an interesting article, chuq. But I dread to think how many allied lives of soldiers and airmen would have been lost, to bring about the defeat by conventional assault and bombing. There is also the likelihood that more Japanese would have died in those campaigns, than perished in the atom bomb attacks.
Best wishes, Pete.
I liked it also….they are always declassifying stuff and some it is just great reading….chuq